Why Millennials Are Reverting to Being Teenagers

Welcome to the period of reverting again to teenagehood.

Simply take Olivia Rodrigo for instance. Her newest studio album, “Guts,” has allowed her to amass a big group of 20-something and 30-something “youngsters” who’re obsessed along with her music. Whereas Rodrigo is just 20 herself — and broke out along with her debut, “Bitter,” as an 18-year-old — she’s been capable of uncannily enchantment to an older, extra mature viewers.

In fact, the concept of embracing youth as we age is not a brand new idea, however this second feels completely different. Throughout social media, millennials are speaking concerning the phenomenon. From memes to movies, the “20-something teenager” is a veritable id, because of Rodrigo’s 2000s pop-rock sound; the resurgence of former Disney stars like Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato; and numerous Y2K vogue traits, from accent nails to jersey attire.

However how did we get right here, and why are so many adults discovering consolation in reminders of their youth?

“The resurgence seems like a chance to reapproach traits I did not have the boldness to participate in as an adolescent.”

For one, this resurgence of traits from the 2000s appears to be one thing that was particularly spurred on by the pandemic. Whereas folks stayed at house, the recognition of exhibits like “Gilmore Women,” “Charmed,” and extra skyrocketed as we rediscovered these exhibits or watched them for the primary time. And on TikTok (which we have been all spending loads of time on), many exhibits from the 2000s and 2010s — together with “Home,” “Gray’s Anatomy,” “Determined Housewives,” and “Fits” — skilled a resurgence due to the three-minute clips of episodes which might be being uploaded to the platform. Based on Rolling Stone, when the 2000s traditional “Ugly Betty” was added to Netflix, it took just a few weeks for curiosity within the present to extend by 500 p.c on TikTok.

But it surely’s not simply that these cultural touchpoints are extra available to us. Wanting again at these TV exhibits, films, music, and vogue traits additionally permits us to embrace the traits in a approach we might not have understood once we have been, the truth is, youngsters. Taylor Swift’s rerecordings are an ideal encapsulation of this. Many millennials heard her albums for the primary time as youngsters, however along with her “Taylor’s Model” albums popping out now, we’re capable of admire her music in a brand new gentle and relive the moments in our lives related to the albums. By way of these nostalgia-soaked listening classes, we are able to strategy the music with extra understanding of the love and heartbreak that so lots of her songs are about.

One well-liked Instagram person put it completely. The account, referred to as Sh*t You Ought to Care About, wrote about why Taylor Swift saying the discharge of “1989 (Taylor’s Model)” at her final present of her US tour has such sway over us. “We have been regifted the Taylor Swift albums that after advised us that sometime we might be residing in a giant outdated metropolis, and now that we’re, they’re asking us whether or not we have finished issues larger than relationship the boy on the soccer group,” they wrote. “And we’re consuming this sh*t up.”

From private expertise, reliving the carefree moments of teenhood by way of the music, films, and TV exhibits that invoke nostalgia is extra about therapeutic my interior teenage self, particularly as a girl of coloration. I personally grew up with loads of insecurities and strived to slot in with everybody else. However becoming in felt more durable to attain when most of the traits from the previous weren’t geared in the direction of folks of coloration.

Now, the resurgence seems like a chance to reapproach traits I did not have the boldness to participate in as an adolescent. Whereas I do love rewatching “Gilmore Women” the second the climate cools down, it is onerous to disregard the microaggressions, fatphobic feedback, and different problematic habits that have been swept apart as lighthearted jokes on the time. As an grownup, I’m able to admire the nostalgia that it brings, but in addition have a look at exhibits like that with a extra crucial eye and perceive now that my variations do not maintain me again the way in which I assumed they did as an adolescent.

“Considering of ourselves as youngsters is about extra than simply embracing our youth.”

That is additionally why I am additionally glad to see that extra younger grownup TV exhibits, books, and films are extra various in the kind of tales that they inform as of late. Watching exhibits like “By no means Have I Ever,” which facilities the coming-of-age expertise of a younger South Asian teenager, and “Ms. Marvel,” which highlights the joyful youth of a Muslim excessive schooler, is particularly therapeutic for me.

And this all brings us again to Rodrigo’s newest album. Within the music “Lacy,” Rodrigo sings concerning the expertise of feeling insufficient to the character Lacy, a metaphor for a white woman who is ideal in her eyes. Listening to a preferred singer who’s universally beloved sing concerning the ache of not having the ability to compete with the sweetness requirements related to whiteness positively wasn’t a part of the dialog in popular culture up to now. However as we speak, it is highly effective to have these pop-culture moments that resonate with folks of coloration of all ages on the forefront.

So for these of use in our twenties and thirties, considering of ourselves as youngsters is about extra than simply embracing our youth. Feeling like an adolescent is a protected haven from no matter struggles or hardships we’re dealing with. It is an opportunity to rechart our histories, to repaint a time that is really worry-free and full of pleasure. And maybe greater than something, it permits us to attach over shared nostalgia and create actual neighborhood — even when only for the fleeting second of an Olivia Rodrigo music blasting by way of our automobile audio system.